School of Law

Subject: Law of Contract

Assignment Topic: Offer, Types and Essentials of a valid offer
Submitted by:
Name: Suhail Yousuf
Enrollment Number: 20043122007
Class Roll Number: 07
Semester: Ist

Submitted to:
Dr. Showkat Ahmad Bhat
Q-3 Define An Offer . State the types of an offer . Also explain the
Essentials of A Valid Offer ?
Ans. Definition of Offer/Proposal : According to Section 2(a) of the Indian
Contract Act, 1872, “when one person signifies to another his willingness to do
or to abstain from doing anything with a view to obtaining the assent of that
other to such act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal”.
Types Of Offer (a) General offer: It is an offer made to public at large and hence
anyone can accept and do the desired act.
Case Law: Carlill Vs. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. (1893) Facts: In this famous case
Carbolic smoke Ball Co. advertised in several newspapers that a reward of £100
would be given to any person who contracted influenza after using the smoke
balls produced by the Carbolic Smoke Company according to printed directions.
One lady, Mrs. Carlill, used the smoke balls as per the directions of company and
even then suffered from influenza. Held, she could recover the amount as by
using the smoke balls she had accepted the offer.
(b) Special/Specific offer:
When the offer is made to a specific or an ascertained person, it is known as a
specific offer. Specific offer can be accepted only by that specified person to
whom the offer has been made
(c) Cross offer: When two parties exchange identical offers in ignorance at the
time of each other’s offer, the offers are called cross offers. There is no binding
contract in such a case because offer made by a person cannot be construed as
acceptance of the another’s offer.
(d) Counter offer: When the offeree offers to qualified acceptance of the offer
subject to modifications and variations in the terms of original offer, he is said
to have made a counter offer. Counter-offer amounts to rejection of the original
offer. It is also called as Conditional Acceptance.
(e) Standing or continuing or open offer: An offer which is allowed to remain
open for acceptance over a period of time is known as standing or continuing or
open offer. Tenders that are invited for supply of goods is a kind of standing
offer.
Essential of a valid offer
1. It must be capable of creating legal relations: Offer must be such as in law
is capable of being accepted and giving rise to legal relationship. 2. It must
be certain, definite and not vague: If the terms of an offer are vague or
indefinite, its acceptance cannot create any contractual relationship. 3. It
must be communicated to the offeree: An offer, to be complete, must be
communicated to the person to whom it is made, otherwise there can be
no acceptance of it. An acceptance of an offer, in ignorance of the offer,
is not acceptance and does not confer any right on the acceptor. Case
Law: Lalman Shukla v. GauriDutt Facts: G (Gauridutt) sent his servant L
(Lalman) to trace his missing nephew. He then announced that anybody
who traced his nephew would be entitled to a certain reward. L traced the
boy in ignorance of this announcement. Subsequently when he came to
know of the reward, he claimed it. Held, he was not entitled to the reward,
as he did not know the offer. 4. It must be made with a view to obtaining
the assent of the other party: Offer must be made with a view to obtaining
the assent of the other party addressed and not merely with a view to
disclosing the intention of making an offer. 5. It may be conditional: An
offer can be made subject to any terms and conditions by the offeror. 6.
Offer should not contain a term the non compliance of which would
amount to acceptance: Thus, one cannot say that if acceptance is not
communicated by a certain time the offer would be considered as
accepted. 7. Offer may be express or implied: An offer may be made either
by words or by conduct. 8. An offer should be distinguished from an
invitation to offer. An offer is definite and capable of converting an
intention into a contract. Whereas an invitation to an offer is only a
circulation of an offer, it is an attempt to induce offers and precedes a
definite offer. An invitation to offer is an act precedent to making an offer.